Athens, Georgia, is a fascinating place. They’ve got a bakery called “Bakery” on Lumpkin, just south of Broad Street. There’s a lot of farmers in the area and, if they need hardware, there’s a store called “Farmer’s Hardware” towards the west end of town. And a decrepit, grayishgreen building in the middle of the town boldly advertises “Bus.”

In addition, of course, they’ve got R.E.M., who—at the very end of July— were working on six or seven songs for their next album. Not Lifes Rich Pageant, that was released the day after I got to Athens. The album after that.